


The Defenders

by TheEagleGirl



Category: Daredevil (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Claire Temple is bae, Crime, F/M, First Meetings, Jessica is rude, Luke Is The Best, Matt is a crazy ass vigilante, Matt is also an asshole sometimes, a sinammon roll, but amazing, sort of, team ups
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-24
Updated: 2015-11-24
Packaged: 2018-05-02 22:36:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5266373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEagleGirl/pseuds/TheEagleGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jessica meets the infamous Daredevil. She isn't too impressed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Defenders

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished Jessica Jones and I thought that I would try and brainstorm her first meeting with Matt Murdock/Daredevil and see how they interact.  
> Takes place shortly (like two weeks after) events in Jessica Jones.

Jessica's week has fucking sucked so far. So when a woman comes to her office at noon, she has half a mind to kick her ass. Who the hell comes at noon? It's too early for this shit.

To be fair, Jessica is very hungover, and she's still waiting to hear from Luke (praying, more like. She's not sure if he's alive and well or dead in a ditch. All Claire told her was that he snuck out, which hurts on a whole different level). There's the stink of alcohol on Jessica's breath, so she pops in a piece of gum and hauls her ass out of bed.

The woman at the door has a white scarf tied around her hair, big glasses hiding her face, and an outfit more expensive than anything Jessica owns. Jessica usually looks at women like this with barely concealed disgust, but there's something about the way she holds herself...

It screams of power.

The man behind her is obviously a bodyguard. He doesn't even flinch when Jessica barks out, "What do you want?"

The woman takes off her glasses. She's in her mid to late forties, maybe early fifties. Her eyes are sharp, and Jessica almost looks away.

"I would like to hire you," the woman says. "May I come in?"

To her credit, the woman doesn't comment on the state of Jessica's apartment. In the past two weeks, Trish has taken it into her hands to get Jessica a new door and pay for the walls to be fixed. However, the smell of paint is heavy in the air, and the office is a mess. 

"Your name?" Jessica asks.

"My name is Vanessa Marianna." The woman says. She sits daintily on the edge of Jessica's couch. "Please, sit. This may take a bit of time."

She can't help it. She's intrigued. 

Jessica wads up her gum and tosses it into the trash. "What's this concerning?"

For a moment, the woman looks like she's trying to come up with a lie. Finally, she says, "My fiance is in jail. I need you to help me track down the man who put him there."

"Who's the fiance?" Jessica asks. She can hear Malcolm shuffling down the hall, and knows he's going to be inside in a moment. 

"Wilson Fisk."

Jessica's mind goes blank, and when she's aware of herself again, she can hear her laughter echoing throughout the room. "You're joking, right? The man who orchestrated a shootout in Hell's Kitchen? Why the hell would I help you, lady? That psycho shot up my old block."

Vanessa Marianna's jaw clenches, almost imperceptibly. "I saw what you did in the news. I know what you can do. And I need someone with your skills to take down Daredevil."

At this, Jessica is quiet. She followed the news, six months ago, about the little game of cat and mouse between Fisk and the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. He was obviously "gifted" like she was but beyond that Jessica knew nothing about him.

"To what end?" Jessica asks, her voice strained.

"Not to kill him," Vanessa assures, her voice smooth like honey. "Believe me, I don't want him dead. But I need to know who he is. Will you take the case?" As she speaks, she slides over a check. The amount is so big that Jessica's eyes almost bug out.

She can hear her voice say, "Yeah, sure."

* * *

"This is insane," Trish tells her. Malcolm makes a strangled noise of agreement, his jaw still slack from Jessica's announcement that she would be going after Daredevil. "He's a hero, Jessica. You can't just hand him over to the fiancé of the man he spent months taking down."

You didn't think he was a hero a few months ago," Jessica snaps.

"That was because we thought he was a deranged terrorist who bombed Hell's Kitchen. But now we know that he's not. He's saving people. You can't take the case."

Jessica's eyes drift shut for a moment. God, she's tired. And there's a pain in her chest that comes from missing Luke. The hero worship in Trish's voice sends another pang into Jessica's chest. She could never be a hero to Trish again. Not after what she did to Kilgrave.

"Do you know how much this woman is paying me? As a _deposit?_ Five _thousand dollars_. That's more money than I've ever gotten as a down payment."

Trish huffs, "Jessica, if you need money, I will give you money."

"No," Jessica snaps. "I'm done borrowing from you. I'm going to take the job, and that's that. Whether I deliver on it or not is another story."

Malcolm finally finds his voice, "You mean you're not gonna tell her who he is?"

Jessica feels a grim smile come onto her face. "That depends on what I find."

* * *

She starts with the former Detective, Hoffman. He's locked up in a minimum security prison, and looks pretty comfortable with his lot.

"Daredevil saved my life," he says stubbornly when Jessica pries him for details. "Fisk was gonna kill me, and Daredevil stopped him. I'm not gonna tell you any more than that."

Jessica can feel her teeth grind against one another. She's not nearly sober enough for this conversation. "Daredevil's also the one who forced you into telling the cops everything. He's the reason you're in here."

Hoffman snorts out a laugh. "No, he's not. I'm the reason that I'm locked up in here. Daredevil is the one who got me less time. He got me to a clean cop, when all the cops in the precinct were dirty as hell. The cop got me clean lawyer that didn't sell me out to Fisk. Daredevil's the reason I'm still alive, Miss Jones. I'm not gonna tell you a single fucking thing that's gonna help you turn him in."

"That clean cop? What was his name?" Jessica asks.

Hoffman doesn't answer.

It doesn't matter. Jessica looks him up on google. Brett Mahoney.

* * *

"Shit!" the cop says. "You're the one that murdered that mind controller, right? Damn, girl. You're a strong woman."

Jessica grins, because he doesn't sound scared. He sounds grateful.

"You look familiar. Do I know you?"

"Nah," Mahoney says, "But I know you. I was the cop that took off your handcuffs when that Kilgrave guy was at the station. He made me point a gun to someone's head. It was fucked up, man."

"Yeah," Jessica says, and suddenly her good mood is gone. "I'm sorry about that. He was only there to get at me."

Mahoney shrugs. "I'm a cop. Gotta deal with the crazy every day. So what do you need, Miss Jones?"

She has two options, flirt it out of him, which she's horrible at, or be straight with him.

"Looking to track down Daredevil. I need to talk with him."

In an instant, the cop's face shuts down. "Why?" he asks.

Jessica lies smoothly, "You were the one that brought Hoffman in. I'm investigating something about Hoffman's case. I need to talk to Daredevil about it."

His posture relaxes a little, and he laughs. "I don't really know Daredevil. Met him twice. I have no idea why he told Hoffman to come to me. All I did was not shoot him when I had the chance to."

Jessica files the information away for further use. "All right. And what do you think Daredevil wanted you to do with Hoffman once you got him? He couldn't expect you to protect him all on your own. What do you think his plan was?"

Looking a little wary, Hoffman says, "Listen, all I did was protect a bad man from an even worse one. Matt and Foggy did most of the work."

"Matt and Foggy?" Karen repeats. Those are the lawyers. Matthew Murdock and Franklin Nelson.

"Yeah," Mahoney says, "They're friends of mine. Hoffman said Daredevil told him I knew some clean lawyers, and those were the only ones I could think of."

Jessica thanks him and turns to leave, "Oh," she says, "I also heard you were the arresting officer at the scene of the crime. Fisk. That's a big catch, Officer Mahoney."

He grins, his face coloring, "Thanks, Miss Jones."

She waves and leaves.

* * *

Jessica meets Jeri at her offices. "You know these two?" she says, and pulls up a picture of Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson. _Foggy._ Honestly.

Jeri glances at the paper, looks away, and then takes a closer look. "Nelson and Murdock. They put Fisk away this year, didn't they? Good lawyers, I suppose. Bit naïve, though. They're more into helping the underdog than working to forward their futures."

"Like you did?" Jessica scoffs. "Look where that got you."

Jeri barely graces Jessica with a glare. "What do you want from them?"

"Case I'm working on. They worked at Landman and Zach. Didn't you partner with them on a case or two?"

"Yeah, one or two. But I don't remember any blind lawyers. Or any hippies."

"Oh, come on. He's so not a hippie just because he needs a trim."

Jeri raises her eyebrows and goes back to her laptop. "If you're not going to give me any more information, I'm afraid I won't be of much help. I'm trying to get my girlfriend out of jail."

* * *

Jessica walks into Nelson and Murdock's offices at 4 PM, sharp. Their secretary, a blond with big eyes, looks up at her, "I'm sorry, we're closing soon. What's this in regard to?"

"Daredevil," Jessica says. "I need to speak to the lawyers of this establishment. Are they in?"

The secretary's eyes widen, "Um, one second."

She knocks on one door and says, "Foggy--Mr. Nelson. We've got a woman here asking about Daredevil."

Jessica turns away from the door to see a blind man leaning against the door of the other office. Matt Murdock.

"How may we help you, miss..."

"Jones. Jessica Jones. I'm a private investigator. I'd like to speak to you and Mr. Nelson regarding Wilson Fisk, Detective Hoffman and Daredevil."

"Hate Fisk, Dislike Hoffman, Don't know Daredevil," a voice says, and Jessica slides her eyes to Foggy Nelson, whose hair is just as crazy as it was in his picture. It suits him. "Sorry, we don't take questions about clients, or our current cases. And, as Mr. Fisk has not yet gone to trial, we can't talk about his case. Or Hoffman, who is a client. Or Daredevil. Because, obviously, we don't know him."

"Well, that's not completely true," the secretary says. "He saved my life once."

"God," Jessica says, exasperated, "That is so fucking annoying. You know I can't get anyone to talk about Daredevil? What is it, some kind of secret cult thing. Speak of the devil, and he shall appear or some shit?"

Murdock's lips twitch for a second. He's laughing at her.

"I need information. _For a client_. Once I have what I need, I'll leave and we will hopefully never see each other again. Capise?"

"Why don't we step into the conference room?" Murdock offers. "Karen can make...um, Karen what do we have except coffee?"

Karen's lips press together, " _Water._ And an angry person who makes your coffee and can spit in it, Matt."

He winces. "Miss Jones, I'd recommend the water."

She makes her way to their conference room. "I'd recommend whiskey," she mutters under her breath.

"Bit early for that," Murdock says, as he closes the door behind them and taps his cane around the room until he reaches a chair. Jessica's always been a little--not _nervous--wary_ of blind people. It's too weird for her, looking at someone's face only to have them not focused on hers.

She sits down in the uncomfortable chair and props her feet on the table. "So," she says. "I want to know why Daredevil sent Hoffman to you two."

Nelson fidgets a bit, "He didn't. We've never met him. Our friend at the station told Hoffman to hire us, and we'd been investigating Fisk for months, so we took the job."

Jessica shakes her head. "He told Hoffman to go to Mahoney, and that Mahoney knew some good lawyers. Now, why would he think that? How did he know you two were clean?"

"Presumably he did his homework, Miss Jones. Daredevil seemed to have thought out his moves very carefully," Murdock rubs his eyes under the glasses. "We haven't made it a secret that we're selective about who we represent, Miss Jones. And we're always trying to help out the right people. I suppose he heard about us and assumed that Brett would send Hoffman our way."

Jessica would almost believe him, if it weren't for Nelson. Murdock is composed, and his poker face right now would rival Jeri's. Nelson's also got his game face on, but his hands are fidgeting on the table.

They know more than they're saying.

She pries them, unsuccessfully, for more information and then slides her card over. "Sorry," she says, "I didn't have a Braille printer, Mr. Murdock, so I'll just hand this to Mr. Nelson. Call me if you remember anything else."

"Miss Jones?" Murdock calls out to her as she starts to leave. "You've asked more questions about Daredevil than Hoffman tonight. Is there a reason for that?"

Shit. She may have given herself up.

"No reason. Just interested, I guess. See you around, Murdock."

Jessica is halfway down the stairs when she winces at that statement.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr! I'm the-eagle-girl  
> Also, please comment and review! I love reviews! :)


End file.
